Mine has A series in it and it goes well
Its getting a CA18et soon
The other one is getting a VG30DET
Anything is possible......the bay is suprisingly larger than you think.

But height is a problem.......I'd not try the L engine myself.

that's a point, I saw a CA18 in a 1000 at Bathurst last year now that you mention it.

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The advice about the A series engine, in my view, is absolutely dead on the money. The 1000 is lighter, model for model, than the 1200, & it does not take a lot of power to get them moving very nicely. Anyone who has run a tweaked A14 or better in a 1000 will tell you how well they went, & you can quite easily scare yourself sh1tless with a hot A series.

I suspect that the E15, being an OHC engine may also be a bit squeezy in there as well. The engine bay is generally big enough, but like others have said, it is not very tall in there, & even a dead stock 1200 engine will have some bonnet rubbing problems.

The L20b engine seems to be regarded as not the best choice for the taller engine bay of the 1200 because of its height, so trying to fit one in a 1000 will probably require the instalation of a 'power bulge' in the bonnet/ hood. This is not really the coolest of looks if it is not done really well.

The main problem seems to revolve around the suspension. The 1200 with its pogo stick suspension has a crosmember that can be 'adjusted' to overcome some clearance problems, but the 1000 has a real suspension that uses a transverse leaf spring. This sits inside the crosmember & rules out any clearance modifications here. The engine must sit above this crosmember with enough clearance to be able to move on the mounts..

Unless you are experienced with major engine swaps, i suspect thay you will be more than happy with a hot A14. They are a really good engine & many here will attest to that.

What about a decent turbo set up on the A14? A15 head, port and polish, oversized vavles, uprated valve springs, say to 75 bls, decomp pistons, force fed cam.
good exhaust manifold, T25 Garrett off a CA18det, if u dont go blow through and go suk through, get an Su' or webber etc, with water injection!, thats what i would be doing ne way, then focusing on upgrading suspension/brakes etc.
but L20b would be fun, if u could get it to fit!

team_dat and i are putting a cammed and twin SU'd A14 into a 1000 wagon over summer - should be a little screamer with a locked diff and "locked" suspension...

hence why i'm hunting for a twin SU manifold!

All L series will need clearancing but best is the L16 which will fit but an L20 wont as discussed before unless you run a giant power bulge as dodge said and then the handling will suck big time as the thing will sit way to high and its much heavier than the other smaller Ls specially if the latter L20 is used with the extra webbing. V6 is a different story as even a chev v8 has been in a 1000 (iron chev 250kg plus or v6 alloy nissan vg30 160kg plus) but they arent as high as the tall mother L20. Trust me a good a14/15 will scare you if well sorted otherwise an L16 with L18 crank or l13 with clearanced l16 crank will be possibly a lighter engine with the balls of the l16 or even the L18 crank if the L16/l18 blocks are the same height as previously discussed with Harry but best ask him or feral. The L13 engine has bigger everything and the oversquare design with L16/l18 crank will scare you back to driving corollas.
Also the L series engine can take a twin plug crossflow head design from the Z18/T engine for extra flow and performance.

Thanks boys,
for all your advice, its just that i had never seen a 1200 or 1000 with an L20 in it before and a mate taking a worked one out of his 1600 and replacing it with an SR so i could get a worked (twin webbers, balanced ported) L20 for next to nothing. But by the sound of thing it would be better to stay with the A series. Just Jap they have AGZE superchargers for like 300 bucks, how easy is this to chuck on the side of an A series, Also my 1000 already has a A12 in it and im lookin for some more cubes, do i go for a A13, 14, or 15? it seems as though 13's and 14's are the most desirable, what did these come in? ar are they just bored A12s.
Thanks for helpin a nubie.

Quote:Well, if your looking for more cubic inches, then get the A15. It's better than the others unless perhaps you are trying to build an over-8500-rpm engine. Read up on the a-series in Best Engine.

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the 4AGZE chargers are SC12s and aren't really suited for a L20B 2.0L engine - almost being stressed out in std trim on the 1.6L.

however, toyota got it right with the SC14 on the 2.0L 1GGZE which is capable of feeding 6psi into a 3.8L commy V6. these chargers are a much better option because they don't have to be overdriven as hard to produce the same amount of boost - and they work particularly well in a draw thru application.

however, if you plan on putting one of these babies on an A series, then you'll need to back the pulley sizes off a fair bit from std because the engine won't consume enough air to keep boost at a sane level.

so to sum it up you could

A series - SC12 with factory toyota pulleys or "under"driven SC14

L series - SC14 with factory pulleys.

a had a 2door 1000 for a couple of years that i built with a fairly worked A14, had a A12GX head port/polish and L16 exhauast valves, double valve springs balnced bottom end, extractors, 2 1/4 exhaust, twin 40mm dellortos, 1600 disc brake front end and 120y diff assembly(couple inches wider than 1000) sprung button clutch and 5spd. of the 4 dattos and couple other cars i've owned she was the sweetest. revved to mid 8000s and didn't miss a beat
personal opinion - stick with an A series, easy swap, easy to make go fast and damn cheap to fix
no offence to the fuel injected newer engine conversions but the sound of twin 40's wide open . . . . a joy to the ear

gee i miss her